


Ghost Hunt

by Militia



Series: Star Wars Fics [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Anakin Skywalker Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Anakin is a believer, Or fight you, Or throw you into a wall, Other, Padme has the braincell, Padme would just like her boys to behave, Palps is dead, Please stop inviting a ghost to murder you Rex, Rex will thowdown with a ghost, buzzfeed unsolved - Freeform, except Palpatine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:34:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25443238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Militia/pseuds/Militia
Summary: Anakin has decided to take Rex and Padme on a trip to catacombs below Coruscant in an attempt to find leftover spirits of the tombs. He quickly regrets it. Why did he think this was ever going to be a good idea?
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex/Anakin Skywalker, F/M/M - Relationship, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/CT-7567 | Rex, Padmé Amidala/CT-7567 | Rex/Anakin Skywalker
Series: Star Wars Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1867885
Comments: 12
Kudos: 57





	1. Part 1

Rex peered at the camera, squinting at it suspiciously as Anakin tapped on the glass.  
“It good? Recording alright?” he asked Padme.  
“Yes Ani,” she sighed, “It’s fine and working perfectly, so let’s get the trespassing over with shall we?”  
With a bright grin, he straightened, perking up with a clap.  
“Alright, tonight we are at the entrance for numerous catacombs threading their way through underground Coruscant. No one is entirely sure how they came to be, or how old they are, considering the technical ‘ground’ for Coruscant is about 23 metres above us, where the lowest levels seem to have actually been built over the top of ruins and old towns, possibly from millions of years ago.”  
Rex frowned, staring around with one brow raised, and very pointedly avoiding looking at the camera.  
Padme was about 90% sure she saw him mouth sucks to suck, before turning to walk away from Anakin as he talked into the camera, still in his spiel about the history of the tombs.  
A kicked rock bouncing down into the yawning dark had him twisting around to finally look after where his blonde companion had gone, cutting him off mid-sentence.  
“and it’s said- hey, wait no hold on! Rex!”

Darting after the man, he left Padme shaking her head at him, before sighing deeply, touting along after them with the camera, before finally catching up to them.  
“-n’t just run off without us! What if something grabbed you, or-“  
“What the hell was going to grab me, there’s no wildlife on Coruscant-“  
“you tipped and fel- what do you mean what could have grabbed you!? One of the spirits could have grabbed you!”  
Wincing, Padme rubbed at one of her ears daintily as she grinned at the exchange between the two.  
“Boys, can we try keep the shrieking to a minimum, please?”  
Turning back toward the entrance with a smirk, Rex ignored Anakin’s spluttering from behind him, right before stepping forward and jumping the short distance down.  
Padme hid her mouth behind her hand as Anakin yelped, spinning back around once more at where Rex had just dropped from.

She was resolute in her conviction to not laugh at her husband, no matter how ridiculous he might be.

When her lips twitches as he literally dove to his knees at the ledge, she conceded that may be a hard ask.

A light flicked on below them as she kneeled down beside her over dramatic partner, spinning her legs to dangle before she followed Rex’s example, allowing herself to fall into a crouch as the sandy floor absorbed the jarring impact.  
Rising with a grace worthy of her position as a senator, she glanced back up at a now pouting Anakin, an eyebrow raised, absolutely certain Rex had a similar, if more smug, expression on behind her as his headlight flooded onto Anakin’s face, forcing him to squint and glare at him.  
“Come on general, we don’t have all day to wait for you.”

As the light swung off him, and Rex started walking forward deeper into the first tunnel, Anakin finally sighed, and with a grunt, twisted to awkwardly clamber forward over the ledge, grumbling under his breath. Padme was almost tempted to warn him, but ultimately decided against it when his foot caught, sending him tumbling down with a squawk where he landed heavily in front of her, a small cloud of dust raising around him.  
Coughing, hand flailing irritatedly around his face, he pushed himself up to his feet with a scowl.

Padme was careful to win any evidence of her grin off of her face, and out of her voice.  
“Are you okay?”  
He sighed again, slapping dust and sand sitting on his clothes away before muttering he was, and stomping forward and around her.  
Taking a second to let her smile break out, Padme bit her lip to contain it before turning and following after him to where Rex was waiting at the end of the short tunnel, at the first intersection.  
“Graceful landing as always general.”  
“Oh shut up,” he muttered, light in his hands flashing on to join Rex’s headlight.

Shaking her head at her two partners, Padme unhooked her own light, adding to the other two as they swung around in every direction down the three possible directions in front of them.

Swinging the camera back around on Anakin’s face, Padme stared at him expectantly.

On the screen in her hands, a hand came and jabbed him in the gut to get his attention. She winced against the ensuing shriek as he jumped, spinning around with wide horrified eyes to glare at a grinning Rex, arm still held out from where he’d tried to get Anakin’s attention.

“Uh, sorry there, general.. didn’t uh,” as he talked he clearly tried to stop himself from grinning or laughing, face twitching as his mouth constantly pulled down out of its grin before flying up again.  
“Didn’t mean to scare you there.”

With a scoff, Anakin whirled and walked down the tunnel to the left, muttering just loud enough for the two behind him to catch glimpses of him talking about “The Hero without Fear” and not being scared of something that wasn’t a spirit.  
Padme shared a bemused look with a still smirking Rex, before rolling her eyes, and gesturing for him to walk in front of her.

She was glad she was going to be in charge of editing this video, because she did not think anyone needed to know just how long she kept the camera focussed on, and zooming in on, Rex’s behind.  
Yes, definitely something to take out of the final video.

But for personal view there was nothing wrong with a few more seconds, especially not with the man swinging his hips, now that he knew what she was doing.  
Yes, definitely for later viewing.

She pulled the camera up when Rex slowed down, walking steadily until she was beside him, both coming to a stop behind a now still Anakin as he flicked his light around the cavernous room the three were now standing on the cusp of.


	2. Part 2

“Okay,” heaving out a breath, Anakin turned back to his companions, light flicking over their faces, causing them to wince and squint at him.   
Padme flashed her light back into his eyes as retribution, flicking it away when his finally dropped away from their faces.  
Blinking the dark spots out of her vision, she focussed back on Anakin as he tapped a hand against the torch in his other hand.

Beside her Rex let out a sigh.  
“So, what exactly are we looking for down here general?”  
Padme had to smile at the man, of course he would come down here without knowing exactly what they were going to be doing. She was sure Anakin hadn’t even needed to pull out a pout to get him to agree.  
For someone who was supposedly the big scary Captain, he really was a big softy at heart.

He slowly turned his glare on her, which only caused her smile to widen. With a narrowing of his eyes, he quickly flipped his light up to direct it into her eyes. The brightness caused her to flinch away from it, eyes scrunching closed to no avail.  
Hearing a soft snort, she reached a hand out to blindly smack at him as she once again blinked furiously to try clear her eyes of spots once more.

A cough in front of them brought their focus back to the task at hand. More importantly, to the man shuffling impatiently in front of them.

“Sorry Ani, go ahead.”  
Once more perking up, he cleared his throat, back straightening.

He really was very cute.  
Based on the movement from beside her, she wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“Okay, so,” he cleared his throat once more, and Padme checked the camera, before deciding to zoom in a bit further to get his face in view a bit better.”  
“What we’re in right now is an antechamber, this was considered one of the main places for cremations to take place, at least according to sources in Master Nu’s records.”

As he spoke, Padme had to smile at how excited he was, talking about it. She was definitely glad he’d found an interest in something after all the nonsense and pain the war had caused him.

“-Uh, sorry general, did you just say they spread people’s ashes through this chamber?”

“-yes, now, as I was saying-“  
“Hold up, hold up,” Rex held a hand up, face startled as he shook his head lightly.  
“You’re saying, we’re standing on people’s ashes right now?”  
“Yes but it’s fine, we’ll all go to the healers afterwards to make sure we didn’t breathe anything dangerous in-“  
“You’re saying, we could be breathing in people’s ashes?!”  
As Rex’s voice rose to a startled squeak at the end, Padme found herself covering her mouth once more, biting her lip harshly, to contain any possible reaction.

“Well yes but they’re easily thousand’s if not-“  
“People’s ashes?”

“Yes, keep up Rex-“  
“We’ve been breathing in people’s ashes.”

Finally allowing herself to release a small huff, Padme took a deep steadying breath, before clapping her hands together as best she could holding a light and a camera, the sharp sound getting both men’s attention.  
She thought it would be kind of her to ignore the way they both flinched and jumped slightly at the sound.

“How about we move on to a different room not filled with people’s ashes, for Rex’s sake?”

“Right yes, so, through this doorway-“  
With a dramatic fling of his arm, Anakin was off, spouting off as much information as he could remember, as he lead the way forward.  
Placing a light hand on Rex’s arm, she gently pushed him to start walking with her as they moved forward after him.  
She kindly chose not to react to the horrified expression still occupying his face.

With one partner mumbling nonsense half hysterically beside her, and another loudly proclaiming fact and information loudly to the echoing tunnels, Padme resisted the urge to roll her eyes or smile in exasperation. Honestly, the things she did for these boys sometimes

Finally Rex seemed to shake off his disgust. Only to respond to Anakin voicing the theory that it was believed spirits still occupied the catacombs.  
“Spirits?”  
“Yes.”  
“Spirits, as in ghosts?”  
“Yes.”  
“Ghosts, as in dead people?”  
“That is usually what ghosts are, yes,” Padme interjected mildly.

She chewed lightly on the inside of her cheek, eyebrows raising at the two irritated glances thrown her way, before the men started right back up.  
“People believe ghosts are down here?”  
“Yes Rex, people believe that ghosts are down here.”

With a sigh, she flicked her light around the room they were currently in, taking in the cracked and broken down beams and walls making up the small area’s confinements.

“We cam down here, to try find a ghost.”

Padme kept her gaze firmly fixated on the ceiling, slowly moving with her light, and determinedly did not feel her lips twitch.

“Don’t say it like that-“  
“Oh how would you prefer I say it then, we cam down here to find a ghost.”  
“Oh shut up.”

Very much, not hiding any kind of smile or laugh as she looked up at the cracks on the ceiling, no sir.

“Anyway, as I was saying, it’s believed that the most prominent spirits still around, are in this next tunnel, and the room at the other end.”

What a lovely crack it was. Very long. Very jagged. It was a very interesting crack.

“… Right.”  
“And, that they only come out if you’re alone.”  
“………… Riiight.”

“So, what I was thinking, is we could all take the camera down for a set amount of time, down the tunnel and into the room, one by one, to try see if we can make contact.”

Very, very interesting crack. Oh look, there was another one. Check the camera, and yep, still roughly angled at the two men off to her side. Oh this crack actually goes into the wall.

“We’re, going to try… make contact with the ghost-“  
“Spirit, and yes.”  
“………….. Right.”


	3. Part 3

Sensing that this could devolve very quickly, Padme flashed her light down into their faces, getting their attention.  
“Anakin, considering it was your idea, how about you go first, and Rex can go second?” She suggested, voice sweet, and desperately hoping the light blinding them hid the flush she was sure was spread over her face in her attempts to not react to their bickering.  
Honestly, it was almost like those two were the ones married since the start of the war, rather than after.

Anakin pulled a comm out of his pocket.  
Rex swung his head her way to star at her, before glancing back at Anakin, who had that stubborn jut to his chin again just daring him to ask.  
He glanced her way again, before hanging his head with a sigh.  
“Alright I’ll bite,” he heaved,” what is that?”

This,” Anakin started “is a device I made, out of one of my old comm links, and should help a ghost communicate with us if they choose to.”  
“….. Right.”

Face falling into another pout, Anakin huffed at Rex.  
“You could at least pretend to be a little….. I don’t know, concerned or something, about this.”  
“About, trying to contact a dead person?”

With a groan, Anakin rocked back on his heels before spinning towards Padme, and reaching out for the camera.  
“Alright fine, I’ll go first-“  
“How long do you want to make the time for?” she asked before he could stride off on her.

“Um,” he paused, frowning at the floor as he chewed at his lip.  
Rex sighed, before stepping forward, throwing an elbow up to lean against Anakin’s shoulder.  
“How about five minutes,” he suggested, eyebrow raised at his still frowning partner.

At the scrunch that followed, Padme suggested eight.  
“It’s a little bit longer, hopefully without being too long.”  
After another second considering, Anaking finally lifted his head up with a bright grin and a jerky nod.  
“Sounds good!”  
Pushing lightly back to balance back on his own two feet again, Rex clapped his hands together.  
“Great, so in ten minutes we’ll let you know time’s up and you can come back out.”  
With another nod, Anaking turned to walk off into the next tunnel.

“Have fun,” Padme called after him, letting her lips finally split into a grin as he turned and grimaced at her before walking through the gap to the dark tunnel through.

With another sigh, Rex came to stand beside her, arms crossed, both looking where he’d just disappeared.  
“So,” he started, voice mild.  
“How long you reckon before any of the,” here he floundered a bit, one hand jerking out to see-saw in the air, “spirits, show up for him?”  
“Oh I don’t know,” Padme said, keeping her voice as light and mild as his own, “I’ve heard stories.”

She could immediately tell, with some wicked fascination, that she had his full attention.

“What kind of stories?” He demanded.

She smiled with all the sugary sweetness she could pull from the depths of her soul, and walked off to sit on a larger broken piece of debris near the exit Anakin had disappeared down, settling down with all the regal dignity she could muster, before turning her head to peer down the dark tunnel after her husband.  
He had either walked very quickly down it and was in the room already, or had turned his flashlight off.  
She placed her own face down, cutting off everything but the barest sliver, and leaving the room illuminated only by Rex’s bright torch.

“Oh you know,” she sighed, “stories about beings being dragged into the depths of the caverns, yanked up walls, thrown across rooms, all the usual drivel people come up with….”  
She trailed off, allowing him a snort, before ensuring her mask was in place firmly enough her lips wouldn’t give even the barest hint of a twitch.  
“Of course there are those who had to be pulled out by emergency services and immediately rushed to hospital, never mind those that their friends and family are certain came down here, never to return to the surface.”

She stared at him, willing her face to stay blank, while she slowly tilted the second camera now in her lap, flicking the zoom button, and hoping against all odds that it was secured on his face, and the expression she could see even from halfway across the room.

“Of course, these are all just that, mere stories, told by people with superstitions and belief. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, I mean, it’s not like there’s such a thing as ghosts, after all.”

The heavy pause in the air was telling, she mused, before he finally let out a huff, muttering an agreement and stalking over to crouch down beside her, back leaning against an edge of the exit, settling on his haunches.  
She couldn’t stop herself from being entertained by his attempts to shoot inconspicuous glances down into the dark.  
She stopped him before he could swing his light.  
“Wouldn’t want to scare off any possibly contact Anakin’s trying to make now would we?”

“Hmmm.”

Padme was definitely curious to see how Rex would go for his eight minutes. For all his bravado and blustering, she definitely did not think he was certain there were no spirits down here.  
She herself could admit against being superstitious, but curious to be proven wrong. 

After all, for all Anakin may have developed certain superstitions still held on from Tattooine, he was a smart man, and a respected Jedi, and she wouldn’t be surprised if he knew more about a possible life behind than either of them.  
She also couldn’t deny his….. healthy respect, for spirits and entities, could be rather amusing as well, as exaggerated as it could at times be.

Then again, that was why they were down here, to see if they truly could find any evidence or make contact with anyone, or anything, that could possibly remain.


	4. Part 4

They were about halfway through Anakin’s time, when they started to hear muffled talking and sounds.  
Padme wondered if it was because he’d actually found someone to communicate with, or because he’d gotten bored and just started talking to the air. It wouldn’t be the first time, he definitely didn’t have much of that prized Jedi patience in a casual setting.

Beside her, on the ground, legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles, Rex knocked his head back lightly against the frame with a heavy sigh, arms barely shifting from their crossed position across his chest, hands tucking a touch firmer into his underarms.

Just as she peered back into the dark, he smacked his lips together, letting out an even louder sigh, shifting in place.  
Pursing her lips to avoid any chance of smiling, she peered at him out of the corner of her eye. His eyes were still closed, face as relaxed as it could be while awake.

He sighed again, this time finishing off at a groan, eyes screwing shut as he mimed banging his head even harder against the wall.

“Surely an ex-Captain would have more patience than this,” she teased lightly, lifts lifting into a snarky grin.  
“Hmmph.”  
Flicking his torch up to light up his face, he peered at her, brow lifting, through one narrow eye, before letting the light fall back forward into the room in front of them, eye falling shut.

Her grin softened into a soft smile as she watched him sigh again, deflating with the out-take of air, before settling back down with another deep breath.

They settled back into silence. Less than two minutes left.

Finally, after another small pass of time filled with silence, only broken by the muffled, echoing voice bouncing through from the darkness, they both stirred at the sound of sand scuffling, and much clearer muttering, before a light broke the monotony of the dark entrance beside them, framing Rex in a silhouette of white as he made to stand with a heave.

Situating the camera angle once more, Padme used the opportunity to admire the lean figure cutting through the beams. After all, she could always take it out in editing after.  
“So,” Rex started, voice slightly gruff compared to the silence they’ve been sitting in for most of eight minutes Anakin had been gone, “Find any of your spirits down there.”

“Ah ah ah, that would be telling, and can’t do that, you have to find your own evidence and make your own contact.”

“…….,” with a sigh, Rex held his hand out for the camera, slapped into his palm by his smirking partner, “right, of course I do.”  
“Have fun,” Padme called, brows lifting into an innocent expression at his narrowed eye glare before he turned and, with an even heavier sight, head tilting back slightly to face the ceiling, stalked forward, muttering under his breath.  
Padme was rather glad he was angled in a way she could catch that neck movement on video. She could always edit it later.

He quickly disappeared through the exit, and she leaned forward to catch his retreating silhouette, still able to hear the echoes of his muttering and grumbling as he went toward the room at the far end of the tunnel.

Turning back to face the room, she smiled at Anakin as he came bounding up to sit close beside her, his heat soaking through the layers to warm up a mild chill she hadn’t even realised had been there.  
“Knight Skywalker,” she teased.  
“My lady,” he lifted her hand up, pressing a light kiss to the back of it before properly twining their fingers together with a grin.  
“Find any enlightenment in there?”

Throwing a smirk her way, he narrowed his eyes at the quirk in her lips.  
“That,” he said, leaning in, “would be telling.”  
“Ah, and we can’t have that, can we?”

As her eyes flickered, barely restrained from going further than his eyes, he darted forward to peck her cheek, before leaning back, and dropping to lay flat on his back with a soft grunt, feet kicking out barely enough to throw up a small touch of dust into the air.  
Sighing at his antics, Padme pointed the camera down at his now calm face, a touch of a wry grin echoing over it as his eyes opened to peer at the device suspiciously.  
“Hi?”

“Anything to say for Rex while he’s experiencing the truths of the catacombs?”  
Huffing out a laugh, he rolled his head back, before lifting it up to look at her, one arm reaching up to pillow his head.  
“I’m sure he’ll be fine, he’ll see anything he’s ready to see-“  
“Oh is that so?”

Scrunching his nose up at her, she could easily read that he was barely resisting the urge to poke his tongue out at her.  
“Just because you don’t believe-“  
“Now I never said that, I-“  
“-doesn’t mean there’s nothing left down here-“  
“-I just said I’ve never personally-“  
“for people to witness or-“  
“witnessed anything supernatural-“  
“-communicate with.”  
“-outside of a Jedi’s use of the Force.”

Humming lightly at her, narrowing his eyes, he shimmied his body and adjusted his head so he was facing back toward the ceiling, eyes falling shut as his brows picked up to make an expression of pure disbelief.  
Shaking her own head, she pulled her legs up to cross in front of her, making herself company for the next….. five and a half minutes.

Playing around with the camera, placing it back down on lap to point roughly in the direction of the dark exit beside her, she took a deep breath, eyes falling shut, ready to spend the next five minutes in quiet contemplation until Rex was done.

Or at least she was, until she heard a yelp from the dark, and a quiet snicker from beside her.  
“I don’t suppose you did anything that would have caused that behaviour, hmm?”  
She turned her head with all the regal grace she possessed, barely bothering to open an eye to view the full blown, vicious grin her husband was sporting, eyes still shut, face still relaxed.  
“I’m sure I have no idea what you could be suggesting,” he replied primly, with all the snootiness he could muster.

She hummed lightly in response, eye falling shut as she faced forward once more.


	5. Part 5

It felt like a few more minutes had passed, where it mostly sounded like Rex had taken up talking to himself much like Anakin had, though a bit quieter than he had.  
She wondered if it was out of nerves, boredom, or communication. Checking the time, she guessed it’d be her turn to find out in just under two minutes.

Beside her, Anakin was breathing steadily. Padme wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out he was lightly sleeping. The man could truly sleep anywhere, as long as he was with someone he trusted to watch his back.  
She wasn’t sure if she should be jealous of the ability or concerned over his lack of care for what the majority of the public considered, decent.  
As he let out a soft sight, shifting lightly, she decided she really rather didn’t care as long as he was happy and comfortable. The man had fought for the galaxy’s freedom, he more than deserved the right to sleep wherever he wanted.

And there was the other man that had fought for the galaxy, letting out a another yell, before…..  
Was he yelling for the ghosts to come fight him?

Beside her, with a snort, Anakin started awake, pushing up to a half sitting position before stalling in confusion.  
From down the tunnel, Rex was still yelling.  
“-can come throw me into a wall if you’re gonna-“  
His voiced waned in and out of being understandable, but not nearly enough to stop Anakin from doubling over with a wheeze, rolling onto his side towards her as he pushed his fist against his mouth to try contain his laughter, face slowly getting darker.  
“-kick you in the crotch-“  
Another snort, and suddenly the silent wheezing turned into a bark of laughter, that quickly devolved in hysterical cackling.

With one man in tears beside her, head banging into her hip in an effort to stop laughing, and one down a corridor from her, reaching shrill new heights of volume she wasn’t sure he’d ever reached before, Padme couldn’t stop her smile, even as she stared up at the ceiling with a sigh, if she tried.

She checked the time. Rex was now in over-time.  
As he dissolved into full on swearing, she debated calling out to him, as the camera pointed in his direction continued to catch his audio, even as it caught the hacking laughter from beside her. Picking it up to point it down at Anakin, now red in the face from laughter, she took a deep breath, ignoring the stutter and twitching of her lips, to call out as loudly as she called.  
“Rex, time’s up!”  
She really hoped he couldn’t hear how much she wanted to laugh.

At first, she wondered if he’d heard her, as he continued his swearing fit for a good few seconds, before she realised it was getting clearer, and his light swung through the entry to alert them to his nearing presence.

He stumbled through the exit, cursing up a storm, almost to the point she could barely understand everything coming out. What she could definitely understand was that something had happened, if not to scare him than definitely to frustrate and annoy him beyond his limits.

Rex threw his camera at Anakin, who wheezed, this time in pain, as it drove straight into his torso, right below his ribs.  
As Padme stood up to take her own turn, Rex stepped forward, using his boot to push Anakin over back onto his back so he could take her seat with a scowl.  
Deciding against saying anything, Padme merely walked off, leaving Anakin’s complaints, spoken without much merit through his still wheezing laughter, and Rex’s cranky grumbling, behind her, as she stepped forward into the dark.

Deciding to go for the full experience, she flicked her light off, switching the camera into a night vision mode, and using it to make her way forward as her boy’s continued making noise behind her.

Humming softly to herself, she swung the camera back and forth, taking in some of the worn away carvings barely left on the walls as she walked.  
Her foot hit something, sending her stumbling a few steps. Heat creeping up her neck, she turned the camera back to see what looked like it could have been part of a statue once upon a time.  
Huffing lightly with embarrassment, she continued forward, one hand patting down the front of her shirts and pants.

Continuing forward, she realised with a start that she had almost walked past the entry to the room she was supposed to go in, almost walking right into the wall that made up the dead end of the tunnel.  
Lifting one hadn’t up to her face, she smiled again, once more a bit embarrassed over her lack of awareness about the space. Maybe she should have left her light on. With a sigh, she just shook her head, and made her way into the room.

Making her way in, she slowly turned in a circle, showing the entirety of the room, the rubbed away, almost gone carvings on the walls, broken down statues, and debris. As she rotated back toward the entry, she jumped, almost dropping the device at the face that leaped out at her.  
Stumbling back a few steps, she had to let out a startled laugh, hand on her chest, as she pointed the camera back on it and realised that it was one of two statues on either side of the doorway, this one still in decent condition, and not crumbled to pieces, like its twin.  
With a huff, she realised this was probably what had startled Rex into his first yelp when he came in.

Taking some deep breaths to steady her heart, she swung the camera around to look for a place to sit down, deciding on a piece of broken stone toward the centre of the room.

It was a large piece, requiring her to jump slightly to land on it, and giving her feet room to swing, heels thudding against the cool material lightly.  
Letting out a sight, she decided to switch off the screen of the camera.  
“Okay, I am now sitting completely in the dark, the only light in here is the barest bit out in the tunnel, spilling over from where Anakin and Rex would have their lights on in the previous room. I believe I have another….. six minutes before my time’s up? So, if there are any spirits here…. Show me a sign?”

Bringing her legs up to once more cross in front of her, Padme settled down to wait, closing her eyes against the darkness in front of her. Not like there’d be much for her to see anyway.


	6. Part 6

“Time’s up Padme!”  
The call bounced down the tunnel through to her right as her comm lit up to display the end of the 8 minute countdown she’d set for herself.

With a sigh, she swung her legs over the ledge, dropping down the small distance to the dirt and sand below.  
“Well, for any spirits that might be here, it’s been fun.”  
She walked out, eyes shouting shut as she flicked her light on to maker her way out.  
Something darted out of the corner of her eye. With a frown she swung her light to fixate on the corner. Nothing. No shadows or movement.  
Might have just been a trick of the light, she decided, before walking out.

She glared when someone swung their light onto her face, causing her to squint, lifting a hand up to block it out.  
“Do you mind?”

It quickly dropped off.  
“Sorry Padme,” Anakin called out to her, voice sheepish.

Letting her lips quirk up into a smile, she joined the two in the room they stood in, glancing between them.  
“Time to get out of the catacombs then?” She suggested.  
Anakin pouted.  
“We can always talk about what we did or didn’t see when we’re back at the surface,” she sighed.

With a heavy groan, he dragged his feet as he started walking, before perking up and striding forward at full speed as he fully processed what she said.  
“Alright, let’s go!”

Huffing out a laugh beside her, Rex bumped his hip into hers lightly, both sharing bemused smiles at their husbands’ expense, before following after his rapidly disappearing figure.  
Feeling a burst of affection in her chest at her two boys, she caught his hand on one of it’s swings, wrapping her fingers through his.

She couldn’t help pointing the camera up at his flushing face as it ducked toward his chest. For someone who spent the majority of his time around Anakin, who threw out his affection on the barest of whims, and who himself had no reservations about giving it out, he still acted so abashed at receiving it.

“Come on guys, getting lost down here would be a nightmare,” Anakin called from up ahead, and with a combined huff of laughter, they both sped up to catch him.

Finally coming back up to the ledge they dropped down, Padme groaned when she realised that oh, there wasn’t really another way up except to, yep, jump and pull yourself up much like Anakin just did.  
At least she caught that on video, because that man definitely had muscle in his shoulders.

Using clasps she had leftover from gear they’d gone hiking in prior, Padme hooked the camera, and her now off light, onto them to free her hands before approaching the ledge to get an idea of what she was working with here.  
It certainly wouldn’t be the worst pull up she’d ever done, she decided.  
Right as she went to crouch, hands gripped her waist, and hoisted her up.

With a startled laugh, she barely had time to react, before Anakin’s hands were gripping her arms, clasped at the elbows, and pulling her up all the way to stand beside him.  
A smile still broken out on her face, she turned to look down at a mischievous Rex, as he winked at her, before stepping to the side, and hoisting himself up easily.

She really hoped her camera, which was pointed in a downward direction, had caught that.

Movement beside her let her know that, even if hers hadn’t, Anakin’s that he had pulled free and was using to film, certainly had.

Well, they needed their own personal content from somewhere.

Seeing an opportunity, she reached out and pinched when Anakin turned to walk away. Jumping with a startled yelp, he turned to glare at her, even as he continued walking, attempting to keep her in his sights, and walking straight towards Rex who reached out casually to land a light smack, just as Anakin made the mistake of raising a hand up to point at her.

“Oh, I hate you both,” he muttered, stalking off as he continued to grumble under his breath.

Grinning at a smirking Rex, she walked up behind him as he followed after the cranky man, only to also let out a startled yelp when she reached forward to return his smack since Anakin was too far away to do so.

Padme smirked, following her two grumbling men as they lead the way back up to the ground levels of Coruscant.

Once back out in the open, the trio made their way back to their vehicle, putting all their gear away, before hanging around to make a small triangle beside it, Rex taking the opportunity to lean against the cool metal.  
“So,” Padme started, at almost the same time as him. Ducking his head down with a flush, he gestured with one hand for her to keep going, his other rubbing at the back of his neck.

Smiling lightly, he really was too cute, she turned to look at Anakin, who pulled his gaze away from the flustered man with some difficulty to stare at her, lips still quirked in a crooked smile, brows raised expectantly.  
“Are there spirits down in Coruscant’s catacombs?”

With a sigh, he rocked back on his heels, arms crossing over his chest before tilting his head at her.  
“Well, I’m sure you already know I think there is,” he started.  
“Well, there was nothing conclusive down there,” Padme gave him, face purposefully innocent.

With a specifically blank face, he stared at her dryly, before they both turned to face the man between them.  
Awkwardly rubbing at the back of his head, Rex shrugged.  
“I mean, I,” he coughed lightly, face flushing.  
“We did hear you Rex-“  
“I think we can probably guess what you think dear.”  
They both shared a smile as they spoke at once, before their gaze turned back toward the Captain, whose complexion had darkened impressively.

“So,” Anakin said.  
“I guess it’s not definitive,” Padme interrupted before her could continue, shooting him a wry grin.  
“I guess not, definitive,” he sighed.

“I mean,” they both turned to look at Rex as he spoke up, causing him to pause, his complexion darkening again as he folded his arms over his chest.  
“We could, do it again, or something similar, I guess, if you wanted to try.. make… it, definitive?” He muttered, the last few hesitant words lifting up into a question.

Smiling softly, he really was adorable when he was awkward, Padme glanced over at Anakin, to see he had an equally soft, and amused look on his face.  
“Sounds like an idea,” he said.

Nodding to himself, Padme almost missed his next words, and even then, still took a second to process them.

“Rex, did you just say you want to fight a ghost?”


End file.
